The New iRiver AK100: A High-End DAP - Page 33

 

Sharing is always good but at least state where you saw the info.

 

By the way, the AK100-111is earphones are selling at 49,980 JPY, which is about 630 USD.

Oh my god!!! This is nothing short of a money making fail. The sq is flawed, and it needs "specific" headphones or iem's to sound good??? Talk about trying to justify a garbage purchase as a successful product. Cheap discount players have better output,...total junk.

And as for having to hear it to know, quite a few have said in various forums it's not worth the price vs sq. I'll take their word for it and stay with an iPod/Sansa/Sony > amp combo.

Oh, and I luv how even some here claim it's no good, then say it's fantastic when another member starts singing praises. Flip flopping due to the popular vote,...hilarious.
Edited by tds101 - 11/12/12 at 9:07am

lol :P.
 

Well, this is my last post in this thread - I'll be chastised for my comment above. But, I respect the ppl who'll speak the truth as I have,...and we know who we are here at Head-Fi. This is a site supposedly geared towards the best-of-the-best. This player is NOT a qualifier.

I won't respect it until Jude can do a review and say otherwise. I respect his opinion.

 

Ya' know what though? It's still tempting 'cos right now the AK100 on it's own is already Y49,800. The F111 is Y42,800. If this combined package sounds good and costs Y49,980 total, I'm seriously not complaining and may even consider ordering one.

 

It's funny how when we are willing to accept that some DAC/Amp components don't have good synergy with some headphones, but with this particular product it's viewed as a failure instead.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

P.S. About Ken's combination, I tried the AK100 with an external amp and actually sounded really good - despite it being double-amping. The AK100 on it's own with the TG!334 is ok and can be improved somewhat with EQ but I'd prefer my iBasso DX100 still.

Oh I didn't know it was double amping.... Wow not sure what else can be said....
 

Well normally I'm not a double-amper (is there such a term??).

 

Strangely at least in the shop, feeding the AK100 to my demo Ortofon MHd-Q7, it was actually acceptable (on the FitEar TO GO! 334). Without the external amp, the mid-bass seemed somewhat thin compared to the DX100, so that's where I tried EQ (and I'm normally not an EQ-er too).

 

I'm beginning to sound like someone who's compromising a lot to justify this AK100 ;-). Hehehe. Well, I haven't bought one yet, and I think I'm still just sitting on the fence.

Well at the end of the day if you enjoy it that is all that matters. But you have a point about the compromises. It's like a balancing act no matter how you put it. I actually thought it had a LO lol :P. Who knows maybe they'll catch on with their later models that had been mentioned at which point it will become a viable option for me :).

Edited by lee730 - 11/12/12 at 9:40am

....This is being bad, cool , but still bad.
Edited by turokrocks - 11/12/12 at 9:51am

 

     The Tzar 350 is selling for $369 (pre-order) and $399 after Dec1

 

I suggest waiting for the 901

So who sells this the cheapest?

So you went to try it this week-end, Anak ? Which amp did you try ?

Told you it was ok through my Pico Slim Still way too expensive for a transport IMO, and even more a shame that they botched the amp section, as the DAC section is not bad. I'd begin considering it at the 25,000-30,000 price point, an only because of the form factor and the interface, over my T51.

By the way, double amping isn't a bad thing per se. Particularly in that kind of cases where you can correct the amp section by providing it an easier load. I suppose it's a bit different in desktop gear. And I personally don't think we should look for any kind of "synergy", but that's one of the things we don't agree on, isn't it ?

 

Ya' know, I have to be honest, when I demo-ed the 901, I wasn't completely blown away by it? Maybe I'm just not a fan of Hifiman's signature mids. Strangely I'm in talks with someone about the 901 components (sorry, no names nor details revealed ;-)). Let's just say with the demo I tried, I feel I don't gain anything by switching from the DX100 -> HM-901. The AK100 OTOH IF it had performed well I would have gained on portable size and retained most functionality.

 

However, Fang did say that the 901 is a month away from production but he's continuing to improve the sound, and construction (I told him the 901 felt flimsy and cheap ;-)). It sounds like there's a lot he has to do in that 1 month.

 

 

I did thanks to your tip! I brought along Ortofon's new MHd-Q7 since 2-dimensionally they were about the same size (just don't look at how thick the MHd-Q7 is ;-)). I have to be honest that I'm actually very happy with that sound. You're right it's too expensive to use it purely as a transport. Which is where to me that F111+AK100 package (IF it actually sounds good) may be worth it since one is theoretically getting Y92,600 for Y49,980 (consumer RRP).

 

Yeah we probably should agree to disagree about synergy :D. My personal belief is that if someone were to get the "best" DAC, "best" amp, and "best" headphone, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll get the "best" sound - because of synergy between the components.

Agreed 100% on the flimsy part. I'm not buying a DAP for 900$+ that is made out of plastic, and feel as such.

I don't know, maybe the F111 is good, being a FitEAR, but I feel that would be a step back from your 334TG. What would you do if one breaks ? Not now, but say in a few years ? Good luck finding something that fits the same purpose. To me this is not synergy, it's sweeping dirt under the carpet.

As to the "real" synergy thing. Well anything properly designed should be able to work satisfactorily with anything else. The last percentage of variations goes down to personal preference. I know some consider my Benchmark is sounding like "2 robots copulating" (love that quote, thanks Fishski). Fair enough, it's their point of view, but they're not going to convince me that things are "magically" synergizing Not knowing what and try to understand, is more interesting than just parotting the opinions of someone else, IMHO.